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Unemployment rates were lower in July than a year earlier in 305 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 52 areas, and unchanged in 15 areas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Seven areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, while 18 areas registered rates of less than 5.0 percent. Two hundred seventy-six metropolitan areas reported over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 93 reported decreases, and 3 had no change. The national unemployment rate in July was 8.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 9.3 percent a year earlier.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had improved in July, declined in August. The Index now stands at 60.6 (1985=100), down from 65.4 in July. The Expectations Index decreased to 70.5 from 78.4. The Present Situation Index, however, was virtually unchanged, at 45.8 versus 45.9 a month ago.

Whether known for its long-standing role as a sponsor of the Olympic Games and for introducing the first revolving credit card platform back in 1958, Visa now has another achievement to add to its corporate legacy- the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Payment Card Brand of the Year distinction. 2012 marks Visa's eighth year at the top of the Payment Card category in this annual brand health assessment study from Harris Interactive.

After several years of dramatic changes due to legislation, increased fees and limited credit availability, there finally is stabilization in the credit card industry, and the stability is reflected in a third consecutive year of increased credit card customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study(SM).

Data through May 2012, released by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that average home prices increased by 2.2% in May over April for both the 10- and 20-City Composites.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had declined in June, improved slightly in July. The Index now stands at 65.9 (1985=100), up from 62.7 in June. The Expectations Index improved to 79.1 from 73.4. The Present Situation Index, however, decreased slightly to 46.2 from 46.6 a month ago.

U.S. corporations continue to lag far behind their counterparts in other developed economies - notably the European Union and Japan - in transparency of environmental and social practices. According to a new study by The Conference Board, the overall disclosure rate of this type of information by U.S. companies in the Russell 1000 is 10 percent, compared to 19 percent for a global sample of 3000 business organizations tracked by Bloomberg’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) database.

comScore, Inc. released results from a study of first-time U.S. smartphone owners with insights from the comScore MobiLens service. The study found that nearly half of feature phone subscribers who acquired a device during April 2012 switched to a smartphone, an increase of 9.5 percentage points from the previous year, as smartphone adoption continues its upward climb in the U.S. Among this audience, 61.5 percent of consumers acquired devices running the Google Android platform, with 25.2 percent choosing Apple devices and 7.1 percent opting for Microsoft smartphones.

Online advertised vacancies rose 232,000 in June to 4,947,100, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series. Following little growth in the first two months of the second quarter, June closed out the quarter with a strong gain. The Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.7 unemployed for every vacancy.

The first analysis of 2011 corporate giving data, the most recent data available, reveals a majority of corporations worldwide have increased their giving year-over-year. According to the annual Corporate Giving Standard (CGS) survey, conducted by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) in association with The Conference Board, companies are driving toward restoring corporate giving to pre-recession levels.